More details about the 40-inch Telescope..The Mount Laguna Observatory 40-inch telescope is a cooperative venture of San Diego State University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The telescope, once sited in Illinois, was moved to Mount Laguna in 1981, and started routine observations in 1983. With this telescope, observers have taken advantage of the excellent observing site and produced outstanding research on binary and variable stars, galactic structure, planetary nebulae among other research programs. It has also been used as a testbed for innovative adaptive optics systems.
The lower level of the building contains a darkroom and office space for the observer, as well as equipment storage and supplies. The second level holds the telescope and a seperate, thermally isolated, control room.
A plaque within the dome lists donors for this project: Arise Scaffolding, Frank Beal Sr, Cabrillo Crane & Rigging, Fenton Materials, Hafer Steel, Hawthorne, Hazard Construction, Hope Consulting Engineers, Hubbard Construction, Pemberton Concrete Pumping, SDG&E, Gordon Shackelford, Donald Short, Jack Studebaker, Teledyne Ryan, TFI, and TTT Concrete.
More details about the 40-inch Telescope..
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Step outside the dome.